


Gather Near to Us

by westiec



Series: Pepperony at Home [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Holidays, I'm new at this, Spideypool - background, WW3some - background, a wild fic appears, eep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 17:25:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13194984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westiec/pseuds/westiec
Summary: Tony's friends are having fun, which is great; he just really thought this cabin would have better sound-proofing, okay?





	Gather Near to Us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crockzilla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crockzilla/gifts), [notlucy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notlucy/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The New Old Fashioned Way](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13191360) by [Crockzilla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crockzilla/pseuds/Crockzilla). 



> Inspired by Crockzilla's and notlucy's [We Wish You A Merry Kinkmas!](http://archiveofourown.org/series/897735) when Tony and Pepper kept talking in my head after wandering offscreen. I hope I have done okay by your story!
> 
> This particular fic is not kinky, though it does reference moments from other fics in that series that very much are. If you've stumbled across this in the wild, this will make more sense if you read all the cabin-related holiday hijinks, including Spideypool and the World War Threesome, starting with [Way Up North Where the Air Gets Cold](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13067364).
> 
> The section at the beginning is quoted from [The New Old Fashioned Way](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13191360). This fic picks up from there.

_At that very moment, a half-asleep Tony wandered into the living room, saw Peter swishing the branch back and forth, and immediately turned back around to return to his bedroom, muttering something about “Jesus H.” Sam, who as it turned out had only been pretending to sleep, snickered into the couch cushion._

_“I’ll see that he gets back to bed,” Pepper offered, following Tony up the stairs._

*~*~*

Maybe he would go back to sleep, Pepper thought, as she pushed open the door to the room she and Tony were sharing. But more likely - 

“- taking it right off the tree, the tree for which I _personally invented a laser saw_ so poor Tiny Tim could cut down his very first real live tree; I swear if I’d known there was a pine fetish behind those earnest pleas, I’d’ve never - ”

Yep, he was pacing, his inner monologue turning external and running a mile a minute.

“I just don't know how I'm expected to function around here. Boxing Day, barely awake, greeted with that little tableau before I've even managed coffee - ”

“There was coffee if you hadn't run off,” she cut in, pointedly taking a sip from her mug and crossing their room.

“...then the whole Chef thing yesterday, with the onions and the grandma and the mutual pining - ”

She grinned at that as she settled on the bed. The whole Chef thing had, in Pepper’s opinion, been both engrossing and inspirational. Who knew dinner prep could evoke such delicious tension? Tony himself had been rather fascinated by Wade and Peter's roleplay at the time, and they had both enjoyed their own “shower before dinner" afterwards.

“ - and it’s not like it's just them, no, and I'm hardly shy, but since the minute we got here, I mean, even you practically charmed the snowpants off of that terrifying tree detective with your whole powerful boss lady thing - ”

So he had noticed her come in. Pepper reminded herself to call Park Ranger Nadia, who had been very accommodating on the matter of the tree, all things considered, about an internship at SI after the holidays.

“ - a thing of which I am, of course, most fond, as you know, always and forever with the powerful boss lady thing, but still, you have to admit it was a little unfair to the poor kid to give her the double whammy of you AND Peggy on a full charm offensive - ”

“Tony,” she interrupted, deciding it was time to shortcut this rant before he really got wound up.

“ - and Peggy, Christ, I thought _I_ was shameless, how did those three not get thrown out of the army for indecency back in the day, that was a thing, right? I bet they - ”

 _“Tony,”_ she tried once more.

“ - I'm serious, I'm pretty sure there were… regulations or something? It was the 40s; they'd barely invented sex, right, much less the kind of kinky shenanigans we've been, well, not privy to, exactly, but they're hardly subtle about what - ”

Nothing else for it, then. She shook her head, set her mug down on the bedside table, and folded her hands precisely in her lap. 

“Mr. Stark.”

“Yes, Ms. Potts?” He turned, his hands ceasing their gesticulations as his attention zeroed in on her. That would never get old, the little thrill of seeing all his whirling energy still and focus just for her.

“Do you actually begrudge our friends any of their holiday fun, Mr. Stark?”

He replied as she expected, with a sharp shake of his head and, “of course not, Ms. Potts.”

“Are you embarrassed by the idea of consenting adults enjoying a variety of sexy activities, Mr. Stark?”

That just got her a raised eyebrow and a look dripping with incredulity.

“Then are you, perhaps,” she asked more gently, “still not quite used to having friends who trust you to see their private selves?”

His eyes widened a bit at that, and Pepper waited as she watched him turn the thought over in his mind. It was easier when he was Little, she knew, to really relax around the others, and believe that they liked him for _him._ His lips quirked in a small smile, something like wonder on his face.

“Our friends love you, Tony,” she said, as she pulled him down onto the bed. “And so do I.”

“Thanks, Pep,” he murmured, leaning in for a soft kiss, then another, deeper one. After a moment, he pulled away, his more typical cocky grin now dancing across his expression. “Y'know, maybe we can have a little Boxing Day fun of our - ”

Just then, a frankly impressive yelp that could only belong to one Peter Parker rang out from the other side of the cabin. “Oh,” Pepper realized, “it’s just hit me what Wade must have wanted the ginger for.”

At that, Tony groaned something about sound-proofing and buried his face in the pillows. She chuckled quietly as she pressed a kiss to the back of his head and pulled the quilt up over them both.


End file.
